


If you like to gamble (I tell you I'm your man)

by SomeSortofItalianRoast



Category: Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Divergence - Iron Man 2, Don’t copy to another site, Gen, Not Iron Man 2 Compliant, Tony Stark Bingo 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-07-20 14:29:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19993753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomeSortofItalianRoast/pseuds/SomeSortofItalianRoast
Summary: What if SHIELD had sent Brock Rumlow in as a bodyguard during Iron Man 2, instead of Romanov?





	If you like to gamble (I tell you I'm your man)

**Author's Note:**

> This is for Tony Stark Bingo, bingo square K4 - Brock Rumlow/Crossbones. 
> 
> Title is from [ "Ace of Spades" by Motörhead](https://open.spotify.com/track/1T45V6RDj1vTLFY6Cw4tNf?si=KZue24CGRgiHN1kDBT3Enw).  
> Clarke, Eddie, Kilmister, Lemmy, and Taylor, Phil. (1980). Ace of Spaces. [Recorded by Motörhead]. On _The Chase Is Better Than The Catch - The Singles A's And B's._ [Audio File]. Rickmansworth, England: Jackson's Studios. 
> 
> Since _If you like to gamble (I tell you I'm your man)_ is written from the perspective of Brock Rumlow, there is some blatant disrespect for Natasha Romanov and her skills.
> 
> Minor spoilers for _Captain America: The Winter Soldier_.

SHIELD had been trying for years to get someone high up with Stark Industries, since long before Stark himself had been captured in Afghanistan and become Iron Man. It wasn’t a coincidence that Agent Coulson had shown up so soon after Gulmira, that they’d had a believable cover story ready so quickly after Stark’s fight with Stane. They’d been trying for years - failing to get even a backstopped infiltration specialist into the secretarial pool - when an opportunity for a bodyguard presented itself. It was around the time Stark started behaving himself… oddly. Odder than usual, even.

Stark was his normal flamboyant self during his appearance before Congress, but even Tony Stark doesn’t race in a Grand Prix by himself. That was the first giveaway that something was seriously wrong. Being attacked by Ivan Vanko was one thing, but racing against professional drivers? Not even Stark was that egotistical to think he was that good. Changing to being less of a philandering playboy and being more of a philanthropist playboy? That could be attributed to personal growth or that he was attempting to make it work with his famously on again/off again relationship with PA Pepper Potts. But, handing over the stewardship of SI to Pepper Potts? That wasn’t a declaration of love. No, something was wrong. Very wrong. Whatever was wrong, though, Stark wasn’t saying. He was acting like everything he was doing was perfectly normal. 

Rumlow wasn’t sure when exactly SHIELD learned that Palladium in the bloodstream could kill, he just knew that he was ordered to go undercover as a bodyguard. For once, SHIELD had lucked out completely - an SI security agent who had just been hired by SI had had a legitimate family emergency before he’d reported for his first day. He bore enough of a resemblance to Rumlow that SHIELD sent him undercover, despite that not being something he did regularly. This undercover shit was best left to Romanov, he was better at being the leader of a small Strike Team. But really, how bad could it be?

With that in mind, Brock went to Malibu, where he reported to Human Resources at the main SI branch, going through orientation. They were warned that, if Stark asked them to do something, they were expected to do whatever he asked them to do, regardless of if it was in the job description. There were policies in place in case Stark asked them to do something that went against their personal morals or was illegal, but otherwise they were expected to do as asked. SI was undergoing a leadership change, with the promotion of Stark’s former PA Pepper Potts to CEO, but she was expected to lead them in the direction they’d been going in since Stark had stopped manufacturing weapons, that of clean energy. 

It didn’t take long after orientation for Rumlow, undercover as Alessandro Russo, to work his way onto the roster to directly protect Stark, from everything, including himself, as seemed to be the current case. He sent information back about the Stark Expo, since that was a new development - one of the first two things that Tony Stark had done after the death of Howard Stark was to stop the Stark Expo and call off the search for Captain America. Then he learned that he’d been assigned to work security at Stark’s birthday party. It was the perfect opportunity to see if he and SHIELD could learn what was up with Stark and his strange behavior. 

Before Afghanistan, Stark birthday parties had always been big blowout featuring large amounts of alcohol, cocaine, and strippers. After Afghanistan, his birthday party had been the same sort of party, but without the cocaine and strippers. Knowing that Stark was being slowly poisoned by the very thing keeping him alive, Rumlow couldn’t help but wonder what sort of party Stark would throw. One where he got stone drunk and pissed himself in the suit, apparently.

It was when Pepper was trying to get him off the stage, arguing with him about something (probably the pissing himself on stage in the suit), that Rhodey Rhodes showed up, rekindling an argument of some sort. Rhodes stormed off, returning with a suit of armor similar to Stark’s and proceeded to use the suit in an attempt to restrain Stark. Rumlow, not sure what side he was supposed to be on (Rhodes vs. Stark was not a fight he ever wanted to be part of), attempted to intervene and was hit in the chest with a repulser, sent backwards over a table, and missed the rest of the fight, only catching the very end when Rhodes blasted off in the borrowed? stolen? suit and Stark blasted off, his flight pattern much more erratic than Rhodes’.

The next morning, after finding Stark sitting in the donut on the top of a donut shop eating a donut, SHIELD revealed themselves to Stark, letting him know that they knew about the Palladium poisoning and that Rumlow had been undercover as Russo for the last few weeks. After giving Stark an injection of something that would hold off the symptoms of the palladium poisoning, Fury and Rumlow talked to him about how his father had been one of the founders of SHIELD. Fury wasn’t completely sure about what happened between Vanko and Stark’s father, but knew that Vanko’s father had once worked for Howard Stark. As they were leaving, Rumlow handed Stark a collection of his father’s old materials that belonged to SHIELD. Howard Stark had always said that there was something important in his papers, something that could never fall into the hands of people who would use it for ill. SHIELD had poured over it, finding nothing more than a message for Tony. With Tony dying, perhaps it was time to hand it over to the only person who might be able to solve it. 

Stark disappeared, returning the public eye a few days later at the Stark Expo, where the apparently not-dead Vanko attacked Stark using remote controlled drones from Hammer Industries. Realizing that Rhodes’ suit was compromised and being remotely controlled, SHIELD ordered Rumlow to find the controller at the Hammer factory. Rumlow and Tony’s driver and bodyguard, Happy Hogan, went to the factory, Rumlow taking point and easily made their way to the control room. There, they were able to arrest Hammer, but Vanko, controlling the drones, got away. Rumlow disabled whatever was controlling Rhodes’ suit, returning control to him, and assisting in the clean up at the factory. They arrived back at the Expo in time to see the explosions and assist in the cleanup there. 

After the Expo, Stark offered Rumlow a legitimate job as a bodyguard at SI. He thought about it - the pay and benefits were much better than SHIELD’s - but turned him down. It would be harder to hide his ties to HYDRA if he worked for SI.


End file.
